Fitzgerald: Broncos better brace for some Mile High anxiety

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Red Auerbach kept an engraved quote on his desk which comes to mind this morning as the Patriots and their faithful await today’s confrontation with the Broncos.

It was from Bill Russell, who led the Shamrocks to 11 championships in 13 seasons here.

“Experience,” Russell noted, “don’t mean (bleep).”

That’s why, for as long as he played, he would become nauseous before every Game 7, which is what today’s game in Denver will be, with the losers going home and the winners going to the Super Bowl.

“All of a sudden,” Russell explained, “you find yourself about to run out for a championship game. You’ve already vomited, and your teammates have a dazed look in their eyes. Even Auerbach is quiet; that’s how tense it is.”

He wasn’t talking about fear, the way we might define it; he was simply acknowledging anxiety, which is different.

Former state Auditor Joe DeNucci, who was once the world’s fifth-ranked middleweight contender, knew all about pre-fight anxiety.

“I’ve known guys who quit the game because they couldn’t handle the pressure of the locker room,” he said. “I’m talking about tough guys who’d think nothing of walking into the middle of a gun battle.

“It’s not a fear of losing, or of being embarrassed, or of being hurt; it’s more like a combination of all those emotions working on you at once, and conquering them is a bigger victory than you’ll ever experience using your fists.”

The Patriots would understand that this morning. So would the Broncos.

Since Bill Belichick has often expressed an admiration for what the Celtics accomplished over the years, here — not that he needs it — is one of Auerbach’s shortest and most memorable pregame talks.

“Red always stressed how strong we were, never frightening us with reports of how strong the other team might be,” Satch Sanders recalled. “But one night, just before another of those Game 7’s with Philly, he walked into the room and sensed something was wrong; the guys were too quiet, too tight.

“So he stood there looking at us, then started to laugh. ‘Hey,’ he said, ‘if you guys are worried about them, how do you think they must feel having to play us?’

“Then he walked out. Typical Auerbach. The more we thought about it, the more sense it made and by the time we heard the knock on the door we were loose and laughing. Then we went out and kicked their behinds again.”